Hinduism - The Role of Shakti in Creation

by Jayaram V

Shakti Means

Shakti in Sanskrit means, power or energy. In Hinduism energy
belongs to the domain of Prakriti or the female aspect of Creation.
Popularly known as the Mother Goddess, Shakti is worshipped in her
various manifestations by millions of Hindus.

God is pure and undivided consciousness. You may even say from
a perceptual perspective that He is nothingness. In His purest state
devoid of qualities He is Nirguna Brahman, that is (nir+guna) devoid
of any distinguished features or appearances. Divisions of time
and space and the impurities of ego consciousness created by the
gunas do not exist in Him. For inexplicable reasons, as He wakes,
He sets in motion Prakriti, the universal energy, that was so far
latent in Him, and then enters into it. From this union arises ultimately
all this reality that we know as the universe. This is something
like the modern theory of the origin of the universe. The big bang
is actually what sets in motion the latent energy hidden in the
cosmic egg (Hiranyagarbha).

All the matter that exists in this universe, that is tangible,
sensible, unstable, with in the domains of sensory world and can
be transformed from one state to another, is an aspect of Prakriti
only. Matter is energy in its grossest form. (The scientific world
took thousands of years to arrive at the same conclusion.). The
human body and the mind and the various constituents that go into
their making are also manifestations or aspects of Prakriti only,
but at a higher level.

The energies of the divinities are still higher on the evolutionary
scale than the energies in the human beings, while the energies
of the Trinity stand probably above the rest. At the
highest level is the combined source of
their distinguished energies. This is the energy of the Mother Goddess,
acting as the Shakti of Isvara. Isvara is the awakened Brahman,
Brahman in his dynamic and creative aspect, who provides the field
for the play of Shakti. This in brief is the structure and origin
of Shakti.

How Shakti manifests things and beings

Now about Her ways of working and how the diversity arises in
the manifested universe. According to our beliefs, creation arises
out of the union of the Pure Self (Purusha) with matter or energy
(Prakriti). Pure Self enters into matter and then awakens the various
energies in the matter leading to the formation of a false self
called the ego.

This happens over a period of time through the differentiation
and combination of the five Mahabhutas (the five gross elements),
Panchendiryas (the five sense organs), the karmendriyas (the five
organs of action), the tanmantras (the five subtle elements), manas
(mind), ahamkara (deluded self) and buddhi (discriminating intelligence).

This is how individual beings come into the world and evolves
gradually towards liberation. Before the individual beings are created
this way, the same process takes place at macro levels, resulting
in the creation of worlds and higher divinities.

Prakriti develops the ego consciousness by this process to make
it an important tool in its armory. The ego is driven by the interplay
of the three gunas, namely sattva, rajas and tamas, nourished by
the activity of the senses and motivated by the force of desires.
These things give it a false sense of identity, through the formation
of mind and the mind's awareness of the body.

Prakriti, bondage and delusion

Thus the mind and the body become the field in space and time
for the ego to distinguish itself from the rest of the creation
and act as if it is the real self and as if it is different and
separate from the rest of the creation. This is what we call ignorance
that leads to the deluded belief that the individual ego is the
real self where as in reality it is not. All the while, the Real
Self exists inside, having lost itself in its own reflection in
the buddhi or higher intelligence, doing practically nothing, but
keeping the body, the mind and the false ego alive and breathing
by its mere presence.

The delusion of the individual ego leads to the bondage of the
self. The bondage of self does not mean that the Soul suffers. The
Self is pure consciousness and there is no suffering in it. No one
can touch it and no one can punish it. We say it suffers because
it is caught in the cycle of births and deaths and cannot go back
to its source. It is a suffering for the soul from our point of
view, not for the soul actually. Whether it exists in the heavens
or in Timbaktu, for the soul the experience is one and the same.
It is eternal, unchanging and pure bliss consciousness.

What actually suffers or believes that it is suffering is the
false self or the ego. Suffering however does not prevent the ego
from indulging in its desire driven actions unless the suffering
becomes too unbearable to force to turn to spiritualism. Normally
otherwise, it is so attached to the world that given an opportunity
it would not mind to live for thousands of years. But unfortunately
this is not possible because of the logistics and the physical limitations.

So at the end of each life, the ego becomes frustrated at the
approach of old age and dies against its own wishes. It dies unhappily
because it leaves behind a lot of tasks unfinished, dreams unrealized
and the fruits of its past actions untasted. Nature too does not
seem to like this happening since it would not let the self escape
from its clutches and since perpetuation of delusion by all means
is its chief design.

So it has worked out a compromise by which each created ego is
permitted to come back again to the earth through another rebirth
and continue its unfinished work. When a being dies, its ego would
not dissolve completely. A small portion of it survives containing
its basic tendencies, desires and impulses, which becomes attached
to the soul as a kind of program file and after passing through
the doors of death, heaven or hell as a subtle body is reborn again.
This is in essence the cycle of Prakriti.

At the human level, Prakriti keeps us in delusion through the
combination of elements and through the interplay of the triple
gunas. At the higher levels She enacts the same drama by becoming
the Shakti of various worlds and divinities. Since these divinities
are awakened souls she would not delude them, but become a force
in their consciousness to help them in their assigned responsibilities.

Thus in the world of Brahma, She becomes Saraswathi to assist
Brahma in his acts of Creation. In the world of Vishnu, She becomes
Lakshmi to help him manage the world by providing the required amounts
of wealth and resources. In the world of Siva, she becomes a yogini
or a siddhi and helps him in his task of destroying our illusions.

At the same time, being divine in origin and nature, she also
helps individuals who worship her directly and seek liberation from
bondage through her grace. Since she is the cause of illusion the
logic is she is in a better position to relieve us from the bondage.
Hence the ascendance of Shaktism as time went by.

Is Shakti really female? Shakti is pure energy, neither male
nor female. This interpretation is purely human, figurative and
relative and should not be taken literally. It is also wrong to
believe that Self is male and the energy is female. Purusha exists
in males as well as females and so does Prakriti exists in males
also. They are like the two sides of the same truth. It is also
difficult to say who is superior to whom. Without energy Self is
practically immovable and without Self energy does not have any
field for its movements. The Truth at the highest level: pure energy
(PRAKRITI is undivided consciousness (PURUSHA).

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